


Neterstuck - Only Human

by IncessantPulse



Series: Neterstuck [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Session, Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, M/M, Other, SBURB, SBURB - Alternate Session
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-18
Updated: 2012-10-18
Packaged: 2017-11-16 13:47:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/540103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncessantPulse/pseuds/IncessantPulse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternate session</p>
<p>6 friends who know each other from school are getting ready for their senior year of high school.</p>
<p>They met because they are all twins, because three sets of twins in the same year at the same school isn't so normal.</p>
<p>One hears about a game that is super immersive and one by one they all start to play. </p>
<p>This is the story of how those kids lives were changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neterstuck - Only Human

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first piece of work I'm actually putting out for people to read.
> 
> I'm awful at grammar and spelling, so I used my best tools but I don't have a beta reader yet. 
> 
> Criticism is super welcome (try and keep it constructive)
> 
> If people are interested it would help motivate me to work on this faster. I'm going to try to keep up a good pace but my attention span has been known to disappear.

Chapter 1. Meet Paul

===> Start

A young man stands in his bedroom Grandfather’s basement. It is the end of summer and the basement is the coolest part of the house in the late august day.

===> Pick a name

Why would you think you don’t have a name, that’s foolish. You have a perfectly good name given to you by your mother.

===>

Your name is Paul Landon. As was previously mentioned you are at your grandfathers’ for the summer. That ends tomorrow though, as your brother and mother will be back from your brothers trip to San Francisco and you will get to go home with them. You opted to stay with your grandfather during the summer while your mother took your brother to see a specialist for a few months. You were really excited for him but didn’t want to be away from your computers for too long and there wouldn’t be guaranteed internet everyday of the trip. So you opted to stay with your favorite relative. You have stayed here so often in the past 18 years that both you and your brother have your own special guest room that you keep filled with all your favorite things, It is your home away from home.

Returning to your laptop you continue working on your computer programming, you think programming is really awesome but aren’t really very good at it. You manage to do HTML websites fairly well and most people you go to high school with are impressed. You’re also quite good with Hex Codes for colors, which comes in handy while you work on your Tumblr’s layout for the 5th time this summer.

===> Find Grandfather

Grandfather is around the house somewhere, but you still have to clean this room, It will be the last time you’ll be staying in it for any length of time, and anything you want to take home with you needs to be packed.

===> Stop procastinating

You finally stop procrastinating and save your Tumblr’s layout for later. Grabbing another box you continue placing old childhood books and toys from the closet into a box labeled “JUNK”. It looks like this Mr Potato head is the last of the childhood toys. That just leaves you with the past few years worth of junk.

===> Toss it all

That seems like a good idea, Piling it all up into a trash bag you set it next to the junk box that you think is going to goodwill. You then move them both to the steps so you'll remember them on your way uplater.

===> Procrastinate again

Now that you’ve gotten your cleaning and packing out of the way you just have to kill time until tomorrow.

===> Check MSPA

MSPA? A quick google just brings up the Mystery Shopper Providers Association, you dont have anything to do with them, though it would be pretty funny to be one of those asshole mystery shoppers.

===> Pester friends

You bring up pesterchum and check who is all online.

RisingSails - Offline  
OuroborosSlither - Online  
TransmundaneObelisk - Offline  
RampartTempest - Offline  
TimelessDevotee - Offline

Looks like its just your brothers asshole boyfriend, he is probably just waiting for your brother to get home like you are.

“TimelessDevotee has just came Online.”

Your girlfriend just got online. you should probably pester her.

 

|PESTERLOG|  
\-- DiscernableScrutiny [DS] began pestering TimelessDevotee [TD] at 10:25 --

DS: Hey cutie  
TD: ☯hey there ☯  
DS: What have you been doing today  
TD: ☯ive been around the house dealing with my dad ☯ what about you ☯  
DS: I finally finished cleaning our room here at Grandpas  
DS: Tonight is probably the last night ill ever spend here in it  
DS: I think im gonna miss the place  
TD: ☯ oh they do get back tomorrow dont they ☯  
DS: Well, they get back tonight but there they wont be picking me up and taking me home till they can help move some of the boxes and things weve kept around here these past few years  
DS: They are probably gonna be pretty tired after the flight they are flying against time and still getting in pretty late  
TD: ☯ thats pretty cool ☯ you sure you dont want me to get a ride over to help ☯  
DS: No we can handle it  
DS: And Patt told me he has been able to move his upper body more this past two weeks so he can help  
TD: ☯ thats good ☯ its really cool how supportive you are of your brother ☯ makes me smile to know your such a good person ☯  
DS: Its no big thing

You don’t think your brother is anything anyone should be anything but supportive of, but you know some people are pretty stupid. Oh she’s talking again, you should pay attention.

TD: ☯ some people would be stupid about it but youre not and i think thats really admirable ☯ i know i wouldnt have been so quick to understand ☯  
TD: ☯ hey sorry i gotta log off dad wants me to spar some more ☯  
DS: Ok well ill talk to you again later or tomorrow whichever happens  
DS: <3  
TD: ☯ <3 bye ☯

 

\-- TimelessDevotee [TD] ceased pestering DiscernableScrutiny [DS] at 10:31 --

You love how calm she is no matter what happens, you can’t see her ever having a problem with someone in your brother’s situation. Anyways you got so much time to kill you gotta find something to do.

===> Look for something to do

You bring up the browser and start your music player with some awesome nerd raps about technology and the internet and some other stuff you still don’t understand yet but you sure you’ll understand soon enough. You are gonna be a programmer you know.

You pop over to PirateCove and start looking though the more recently released games trying to find something to catch your interest till tomorrow.

 

 

Game List  
Los sims 3 / XBOX360 [spañol] XGD2  
The Amazing Spiderman - Crack Only  
GenerateurKamas  
GLaDOSMt2client  
Arma2  
The Amazing Spider-man - Proper Crack Only - Working 100%  
TOP 25 Android paid games  
GW2 Beta - Human Ranger PVP Gameplay  
Darksiders.II.Update.1-SKIDROW  
Darksiders II Update 1-SKIDROW  
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King v3.3.5a (12340)  
Sleeping Dogs - Limited Edition (2012MULTi2Steam - Rip by R.G. G  
Chicken Invaders Collection (1,2,3)

Sburb RC1 [Cals]  
Darksiders II-Update 1  
Total Annihilation  
Witch Hunters Stolen Beauty Collectors Edition  
Tom Clancys Ghost Recon Future Soldier v1 4 Update-SKIDROW  
Lego.Star.Wars.III.The.Clone.Wars.PAL.Wii.WiiERD  
Battleship.XBOX360.COMPLEX  
You don’t see anything worth playing recently released.

“RisingSails has just come Online”

Awesome your brother is online, you haven’t talked to him in a few days.

 

 

|PESTERLOG|  
\-- DiscernableScrutiny [DS] began pestering RisingSails [RS] at 10:40 --

DS: Hey Patt how are you doing  
RS: Hey Paul I’m doing ~great~  
DS: Hows your surgeries feeling this week  
RS: They are healing well, Im ~~~SOOO EXCITED~~~ to be coming home though! one of the other kids at the doctor I was seeing told me about this pretty cool game that’s about to come out  
DS: Really i was just looking online at PirateCove and nothing looked too interesting to me  
RS: ~Yeah~ he said it was going to be a super immersive multiplayer game.  
DS: Like WoW or Everquest  
RS: No its supposed a paired game, one client player and one server player, none of this massive stuff.  
DS: So like all the old LAN games we used to play  
RS: I guess so, Its called SBurb and the RC1 is supposed to be released today to the testers.  
DS: I saw that on PriateCove lemme see if i can grab the link

You jump back over to pirate cove and grab the torrent file before tossing him the link

DS: Here you go it looks really small for some reason you sure its as immersive as he said its gonna be   
RS: He seemed ~REALLY~ sure of it, but I dunno we can just try it and see right?   
DS: Yeah, why don’t we install it and you can connect to me since Im sitting at Grandpas and your probably at an airport.   
RS: Actually I’m on the ~PLANE~ it has internet and mom paid for me to connect since the flight is 2 stops and it’s going to take almost 9 hours with all the layovers, we aren’t getting in until sometime around 7 or 8 your time.   
RS: I’m pretty ~stoked~ about having something to do, I ran out of books to read a month ago.  
DS: Cool so you can connect to me and we can start playing that way if you get disconnected I can just wait for you to reconnect again  
RS: Sounds good to me, I’ll get it downloaded

===>Download the game

You wander off to grab a snack while the torrent loads, you don't think it will take long, the game was only a few files and they were pretty small. You bring the box of junk and the garbage up to the top of the steps so it gets taken care of and bring down some soda and pop tarts.

When you get back to your laptop the game is already finished and it looks like Patt has finished downloading it too.

RS: Hey my copy is already downloaded and installed, its asking me for an address for the "Client" but I'm sure that's a translation error.   
DS: Heh sounds like the translators messed that one up pretty bad everyone knows you connect to a server not a client   
DS: I started the client  
DS: Stupid translators  
DS: Connect to Horus1025 and see if it works.  
RS: OK  
RS: I'm in, Holy shit this is crazy, you're in Grandpa's basement room right?  
DS: yeah why  
RS: Because the avatar looks ~JUST~ like you and the starting zone is our old room in the basement.  
RS: Only it's clean.  
DS: Woah thats crazy my screen isn't showing anything its just saying that you connected.  
DS: Its probably some crazy satellite surveillance thing they tapped into  
RS: I dunno but its really cool looking.

You hear a crash from behind you and turn around to see your bed on its side.

DS: Dude my bed just tipped over   
DS: How the fuck did that happen  
RS: Wait ~~WHAT HAPPENED~~?  
RS: Like onto its side? did it crash?  
DS: Yeah there was a huge noise and everything  
DS: Why are you freaked out Im the one being haunted or some shit  
RS: Because in the game I picked up the bed and then dropped it and it landed on its side.  
DS: WOAH!!!!!1!!! that is super immersive try something else!111!!!!1  
RS: Ok I'm gonna try something else, something smaller.  
RS: Like the pillow.

You turn around and watch as the pillow floats across the room and out the door.

DS: That is SO COOL!!!!!11!!!!!!   
RS: Also it looks like more than just the room you’re in,the whole house is showing up, but i can only see the main rooms, none of the locked ones.   
DS: Strange well lets try something else   
DS: Maybe its like the Sims and you can place stuff too  
RS: Yeah it looks like there a ~lot~ of building stuff I can do, but it all costs some currency or resource called “Grist”  
DS: Grist the hell is Grist  
DS: How much do we have  
RS: Looks like.... 20 its not much at all compared to some of these costs.  
DS: Shit well what can you build  
DS: Any free stuff or cheap thing we can use to make more Grist  
RS: Theres a few free things that looks really ~complicated~.  
DS: Complicated like what  
RS: Here I'll place them.

===> Investigate

You look out the door into the main basement area and see a few large things being dropped onto the floor, each one shakes the house a little bit. You wonder how long till someone notices and comes down here. You see what he said about them being complicated, one looks like a lathe from a woodshop, another a large blocky thing with a pipe coming out the top, and the third looks like some sort of teleport pad with a big arm on the side.

RS: Those are the three free ones, and there's a little free card here too, but it doesn’t look too interesting.   
DS: So what am I supposed to do with all that junk   
RS: I dunno they are called the “Cruxtruder”, the “Totem Lathe”, and the “Alchemiter”.   
DS: Well I know which one the Totem Lathe is, but which one is the Cruxtruder   
RS: The Cruxtruder is the one with the big pipe and wheel on it.   
RS: Thats all I have to make, I have 20 units of Grist but there are a ~lot~ of other resources listed in here but they all just say how much and a ~big~ Question Mark.  
DS: More resources  
DS: Shit how are we gonna get those  
RS: I dunno man, why don't you try messing with them. I’m coming up on our first layover here in Vegas and I’ll be back on in a bit.  
DS: Ok Ill talk to you soon  
RS: Later.

 

\-- RisingSails [RS] ceased pestering DiscernableScrutiny [DS] at 11:55 --

===> Experiment

You climb back off the computer and approach the three devices, you’ve seen people use a lathe before so you pick up a spare piece of wood from the basement floor and place it where the clamps should go.

You can’t seem to find the controls for the clamps though, and all you hear is a beep that makes you think “error” every time you try and put the wood in.

===> Try the Cruxtruder  
You walk over to the Cruxtruder, it has a handle at least so you should be able to turn that. Well you should have been able to but for some reason it was stuck and you barely budged it. That leaves the Alchemiter.

===> Try the Alchemiter

You climb up on the Alchemiter and start messing around with stuff. You’re not sure how any of these weird game things work. You’ve found that if you stand up on the upper platform that barely has any room the arm comes out and scans you. You’re not sure what it means but it makes that error beep again and goes back to resting. You guess you’re just not what its looking for.

===> Google it

Giving up on the three strange things for now you return to the computer and start trying to look up the terms turns out there isn’t a stinking thing on them anywhere in Google, GameFaqs just lists the date for SBurb as “unannounced” and you wonder how the hell you’re going to figure this stuff out.

===> Give up

You decide to wait for Patt to get back online, maybe he has an idea, or something the “server” player has to do. You look for a pause button, but don’t see one. This is an online game so that makes sense, looking around nothing seems to be moving or interacting so you just leave it all running and wait for Patt to log back on and hang out on Tumblr.

===> Fix your Tumblr style

Your Tumblr style is awesome, it doesn’t need fixed. But you were designing that new style you wanted to finish.

Non-Existent Minigame!

===> Check Pesterchum

You wasted enough time on your tumblr and it looks like your brother is back online.

 

|PESTERLOG|  
\-- DiscernableScrutiny [DS] began pestering RisingSails [RS] at 13:35 --

DS: Hey I cant figure out how any of this stuff works   
RS: ~~Really~~? Not even the Cruxtruder, that thing only has one thing you can do.  
DS: Shut up ass  
DS: There are no instructions on any of them and that obvious handle on the Cruxtruder won’t budge  
DS: Maybe that free card you were talking about does something  
RS: Did you try ~TURNING~ it?  
DS: Fuck you of course I tried turning it, and i tried the other way too so don’t even ask  
RS: Fine I’ll place the card.

You see the card appear on your desk next to your laptop and you pick it up. It has a picture of an old style rotary phone on one side. The other side contains colors and lines and one of those Captcha codes you hear about for keeping robots from filling out forms. There are also a number of holes punched all the way through the card.

DS: Im gonna see what I can do   
DS: You should try and see if you got any help files or other free things you can find  
RS: I can do that.

You stand up and bring the card to the Alchemiter, maybe this is what it was looking for to scan, you hold the code side out and upon scanning it beeps again like it did before. Next you go to the Totem Lathe, examining each of the doodads and gizmos looking for something you can use to read the card. There is a slot on one side of the Lathe that looks like it would take the card. You slide it in and it clicks but nothing happens, you assume this is because you have no materials to work with yet.

===> Make the Cruxtruder work

Well you’ve tried everything and you still have no clue how any of this shit works. Time to force it to work. You dig around in the basement for a crowbar and find a sickle/sword looking thing and a tire iron. You captchalogue the sickle/sword and your Dictionary fetch modus calls it a Khopesh, your fetch modus forces you to learn what everythings proper name is if you ever want to get it back out. “Sickle sword thing” yeah forget finding that ever again unless you learn that it’s called a Khopesh.

Bringing over the tire iron you stick one end of it into the handle on the Cruxtruder and use it like a lever to try and turn it. This also fails.

===> Break it

Angry you swing the tire iron and smack it into the Cruxtruder a three times. the third hit catches the side of the cap. This causes it to rattle and you stop, look at the tire iron, look at the cap, and then proceed to bash the cap with the tire iron until it comes loose and you are able to knock it off with a confusing beep sound and a flash of light.

===> Now turn the handle  
Turning the handle this time is simple and upon turning it a large green dowel is “extruded” from the top, you assume this must be Crux. Picking it up you head over to the laptop again to talk to Patt.

RS: At least you figured out what the card is for.  
RS: ~What~ are you looking for?  
RS: Fuck man you’re gonna break it.  
RS: Oh.  
RS: That’s unorthodox.  
RS: The game tells me that’s called Cruxite.  
RS: Hmm a timer that says 625:00 but it doesn’t seem to be minutes and seconds.  
RS: Also there is some weird green spirograph ball cursor thing floating around the house on my screen

You were close

DS: Well Im gonna call it Crux   
DS: So yeah I think I’m supposed to Lathe this stuff  
DS: I bet it makes a phone  
DS: Though Im not sure how a lathe can make a phone  
RS: You mean like on the card?  
RS: That would be ~strange~.  
RS: Go find out!

===> Make a phone

That’s it man, you’re doing this, you’re making …. a phone. You aren’t really sure where that came from but it’s just one of those stupid phrases that get stuck in your head, the ones where you can’t remember where you heard it from but you can remember the phrase fine.

Walking to the Lathe you place the Crux (Cruxite) in the grips and it closes around it immediately. Spinning the Crux around as the cutting tool descends. It shaves the piece into curvy vase shape and you are sure that is not in any way shape or form a Phone, especially not one like the card you put in. I guess that’s why it’s called a Totem Lathe and not a “make whatever the hell you want with a Lathe.”

DS: I guess this a totem   
DS: More puzzle shit  
DS: Awesome  
RS: Hey it’s got to be better than sitting there doing nothing, I know no one else is online right now.  
DS: Yeah but couldn’t the game have a help or something  
RS: No way this is old school, the kind where it required actual work to figure out the puzzle.  
DS: Well I’m out of ideas  
DS: Why don’t we switch for a while  
RS: Dude I’m on a plane, do you ~really~ think that is such a ~good~ idea?  
DS: Dammit stop making sense and make this puzzle make sense instead.  
RS: Well maybe we can figure out what the ~timer~ is about?  
DS: Its got another 10 hours or so  
DS: Im not concerned with it yet  
RS: Well how about this ~green spirograph cursor thing~?  
RS: It’s floating around at the top of the steps, go see if you can see what its attached to.  
RS: The game seems to call it a ~Kernelsprite~

===> Find the green thing

Pushing out from the desk you get up and walk toward the stairs. Looking up the stairs you dont see anything but start to climb them. Once you get to the top you look around the first floor and don’t see anything but the junk you brought up earlier. Maybe the Kernelsprite is hiding or small or...

===> Get surprised by green flashing light

Suddenly some green flashing ball of light flies around the corner and back down towards the basement steps. You don’t get a good look at it but it wasn’t there before so that has to be what Patt was talking about.

You spin and start down the stairs tripping over the box of “Junk” and spilling it everywhere. Parts of the Mr. Potato head on top go the furthest and you hear a strange noise.

Catching your footing you look around at the mess you’ve made, it looks like Patt is already picking up some of the junk for you and putting it back into the “Junk” box. you scoop down and grab the Mr. Potato head and start putting him back together. You find all the pieces except one of his eyes, which you’re pretty sure was there earlier when you put him in the box. The orb is nowhere to be seen and so you head over to the laptop and ask Patt if he saw what happened.

===> Query brother

DS: Did you see what happened to the Kernelsprite   
DS: I chased it downstairs but then lost it when I tripped  
RS: Yeah while you were falling it was doing some sort of ~metamorphosis~ and then disappeared into the floor.  
DS: Metamorphosis  
DS: Into what  
RS: I dunno it was changing shape but I was too busy watching you ~fall~ to get a glimpse of what it turned into.  
RS: I don’t see it anywhere anymore, so I guess thats something we will have to wait and see.  
DS: Guess so  
RS: Why don’t you go find out what to do with the Totem you made. You still haven’t used the alchemiter yet.  
DS: Yeah thats right

===> Use the totem

You use the totem on the alchemiter, first on the large platform (nothing happened) and again on the small platform. The small platform seems to have triggered something because the weird arm popped up and started scanning the totem with a laser of some sort. Then there is a beep around from and the display flares to life showing you once again the picture of the phone. The only option presented is to create one, and it seems to cost zero of those “grist” Patt was talking about.

===> Press the button

Pressing the “CREATE” button a small poof is heard and the green rotary phone from the card appears in the center of the alchemiter. You pick it up and carry it back to your laptop.

DS: Woah check out this old school phone   
RS: Try calling someone!  
DS: Dude it doesn’t even have a cord, how would i call anyone with it  
RS: I don’t know, how did you even make it in the first place ~Magic~!  
DS: Fine fine ill try calling someone

===> Try calling

You pick up the phone and you listen for a dial tone, there isn’t one though. Shrugging you reach up and fiddle with the rotary until you get the hang of it. Then disconnecting the phone first just incase you dialed any numbers you try to dial the only number you know by heart, your own.

Nothing happens, neither of them even ring.

DS: Well that was useless   
DS: All i have left is the timer  
RS: I guess. Tomorrow we can have you connect to mine and see if that helps the puzzle along.  
DS: I guess  
DS: Fuck man im out of stuff to do and its not even evening yet  
DS: I still have hours to kill  
DS: And that timer isnt anywhere near finished  
RS: ~Maybe~ something ~interesting~ will happen when it reaches 0?  
DS: That wont be till after midnight  
DS: Why dont we play a game of civ to pass the time  
RS: ~Awesome~, CIV is like the RISK of video games.  
DS: Takes forever and by the time youre done you wonder why its dark out

===> Play CIV

Your brother and you start up and play a long game of Civilization. You win, as always, and as you hoped it is dark by the time you’re done.

DS: Good game   
RS: You’re just saying it because you won again.  
DS: Hey it worked  
DS: You guys should be landing soon and ill see you and mom in the morning  
RS: Are you really going to go to ~bed~?  
DS: Hell what else is there to do  
RS: I guess so. Night.  
DS: Night

 

\-- DiscernableScrutiny [DS] ceased pestering RisingSails [RS] at 22:25 --

===> Prepare for bed

You finish getting everything ready for leaving in the morning, packing up your clothes, taking out the garbage, taking a shower. Once all of that is done you climb into bed and pull out your phone

 

|PESTERLOG|  
\-- DiscernableScrutiny [DS] began pestering TimelessDevotee [TD] at 23:03 --

DS: Night abby <3

 

\-- DiscernableScrutiny [DS] ceased pestering TimelessDevotee [TD] at 23:04 --

|PESTERLOG|  
\-- TimelessDevotee [TD] began pestering DiscernableScrutiny [DS] at 23:11 --

TD: ☯ night paul <3 ☯

 

  
\-- TimelessDevotee [TD] ceased pestering DiscernableScrutiny [DS] at 23:12 --

===> Ring Ring Ring

RIIIINNNGGGGG

You pick up your phone, its not ringing, plus who uses such an old school ringtone anymore. you know your phone plays awesome beats when its being called.

RRIIINNNGGGG

You look around and realize its the rotary phone on your desk. cautiously you go to pick it up hovering over it for a moment before pulling it to your ear.

 

|Phonelog|

DS: Hello  
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

Dropping the phone in shock as you wince and rub your ear, that sounded like a fax or a modem, you remember that sound from the old hacker movies you liked. confused you look at the phone and realize you can hear it still beeping long and loud with various tones and then it stops. You pick the phone up and listen, silence on the other end. Weird, shrugging you hang it up and crawl back into bed, you check the clock on your phone and it says 00:02, the Cruxtruder timer is counting down across the basement and you can see it through the door from your bed. It ticks down the last three minutes while you watch  
1:00  
0:60  
…  
0:30  
…  
0:10  
0:09  
0:08  
0:07  
0:06  
0:05  
0:04  
0:03  
0:02  
0:01  
0:00

You see the timer finish and you drift off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I would love to hear from you all concerning what you thought!
> 
> http://incessantpulse.tumblr.com/ my tumblr as the author  
> http://netersuck.tumblr.com/ my tumblr for this series


End file.
